Page 62 - Studio International - July August 1975
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an intuition is a familiar strategy.   systems other than natural language :   `. . . . a storehouse filled by the members
      Barthes however attempts beyond this   `The Elements here presented have as   of a given community through their
      to grasp the operation of the production   their sole aim the extraction from   active use of speaking, a grammatical
      of sense in a non-metaphorical expression,   linguistics of analytical concepts which   system that has a potential existence in
      to describe the way myth works in    we think a priori to be sufficiently general   each brain, or, more specifically, in the
      structural terms independent of      to start semiological research on its way." 3    brains of a group of individuals. For
      individual manifestations. To this end he   As his point of departure Barthes took   language is not complete in any speaker;
      turns to the schema offered by linguistic   the work of the Swiss linguist   it exists perfectly only within a
      science.                             Ferdinand de Saussure, whose Course   collectivity."' Parole on the other hand
        The formation of structural        in General Linguistics appeared, three   is a purely individual act of selection
      descriptions of social phenomena     years after Saussure's death, in 1916.   involving in its performance individual
      according to linguistic models may be   In the Course, Saussure had said :   peculiarities of intonation, hesitations,
      recognized as a 'structuralist' strategy.   A science that studies the life of signs within   mistakes, accent, etc: 'In separating
      This is not the place to survey the field of   society is conceivable; it would be a part   language from speaking we are at the
      so-called Structuralism. Obviously,   of social psychology and consequently of   same time separating: I) what is social
      provided it is not completely amorphous,   general psychology; I shall call it   from what is individual; and 2) what is
      any phenomenon may be described in   semiology (from Greek semeion `sign').   essential from what is accessory and
      structural terms and there are few   Semiology would show what           more or less accidental.' "
      insights into Structuralism to be gained   constitutes signs, what laws govern them.   The majority of modern linguists
      from a meditation on the word 'structure'.   Since the science does not yet exist,   agree with the methodological necessity
       We might in fact concur with the view   no-one can say what it would be; but it   of the distinction between langue and
      that `. . . Structuralism exists only for   has a right to existence, a place staked   parole. Chomsky's concepts of
      those who do not participate in it'. °   out in advance." 4              `competence' and 'performance' make
       It should be emphasized therefore that   Saussure predicted that linguistics was   roughly this distinction, but they
       what follows is not a description of   destined to become simply a part of this   diverge on the question of the criteria
       Structuralism but only of an aspect, or   general science of signs. Fifty years after   upon which the distinction is to be made.
       type, of structuralist analysis.    Saussure, however, Barthes observed:   For present purposes it is sufficient to
       Particularly, in the main, the type   `. . . . though working at the outset on   note that individual utterances, or speech
      associated with Roland Barthes, more   non-linguistic substances, Semiology is   acts (parole) are taken by linguists as the
       particularly the Barthes of Mythologies,   required, sooner or later, to find language   empirical evidence of an underlying,
       Elements of Semiology, and Systeme de la   (in the ordinary sense of the term) in its   communally understood system
       Mode. As Structuralism enjoyed such a   path, not only as model, but also as   (langue). It is this system of elements,
       vogue in the 'sixties, at least in France,   component, relay or signified. Even so,   rules, and relations which determines
       it may be all the more tempting now for   such language is not quite that of the   the common structural characteristics of
       those who gave scant attention to the texts   linguist : it is a second-order language,   individual utterances, and it is this
       in the first place to dismiss it as passe.   with its unities no longer monemes or   system which the linguist aims to
       Like any other scientific postulate,   phonemes, but larger fragments of   describe.
       however, the classic framework of   discourse referring to objects or episodes   It is necessary at this juncture to
       structuralist analysis will 'live   whose meaning underlies language, but   emphasize two important facts :
       dangerously' until replaced by a more   can never exist independently of it.   I) the elements of the system are
       promising set of hypotheses. As Barthes   Semiology is therefore perhaps destined   defined only in their relationships with
       himself has put it : 'If one agreed to   to be absorbed into a trans-linguistics . . .   other elements of the system;
       define the social sciences as coherent,   In fact, we must now face the possibility   2) evolutionary, historical relationships
       exhaustive and simple languages     of inverting Saussure's declaration:   are irrelevant to the description of the
       (Hjelmslev's empirical principle), that is   linguistics is not a part of the general   system. The first point concerns
       as operations, each new science would   science of signs, even a privileged part, it   Saussure's notion of value, the second
       then appear as a new language which   is semiology which is a part of linguistics.'15   his notion of 'static' or synchronic
       would have as its object the metalanguage                               description.
       which precedes it, while being directed   Elements of Semiology is constructed   Barthes remarks that the effect of the
       towards the reality-object which is at the   around the discussion of four pairs of   idea of value `. . . . is to depsychologize
       root of these "descriptions"; the history   dichotomous concepts, named in the   linguistics and bring it closer to
       of the social sciences would thus be, in a   headings to the book's four chapters :   economics'. In both economics and
       sense, a diachrony of metalanguages, and   Language (Langue) and Speech; Signifier   linguistics we are dealing with a system
       each science, including of course   and Signified; Syntagm and System;   in which dissimilar things are exchanged
       semiology, would contain the seeds of its   Denotation and Connotation. The first   (work and wage, signifier and signified)
       own death, in the shape of the language   three pairs come from Saussure's   and also in which similar things are
       destined to speak it.'11 The texts resumed   Course, and the final pair is from the   contrasted: a 5p piece may be exchanged
       here have been extensively discussed   writings of the Danish linguist Louis   for a newspaper or a bar of chocolate, but
       elsewhere, and now belong to a history   Hjelmslev. In each chapter, Barthes   it also has a place in a system in which it
       of semiology. However, I make no    first describes the linguistic concepts in   stands in contrast to a 2p piece and a
       apologies for representing them at this   some detail and then suggests their   10p piece. The French word 'mouton'
       present juncture, because art and   possible applications outside linguistics.   covers both the live animal and the
       photographic theory and practice in                                      cooked meat on the table, whereas the
       Britain and America have not yet    Language (langue) and speech         English term 'mutton' covers only the
       confronted them.                      In its experienced totality, the   meat. The value of the English term
                                           phenomenon of language (le langage)   `mutton' is partially derived from its
       III                                 consists of a complex of disparately based   co-existence with the term 'sheep', that
       In a publication of 1966, Roland    events: psychological, physiological,   is to say, from the opposition
       Barthes remarked that : 'The present   physical, social etc. Saussure saw that a   cooked/living.
       pre-eminence of linguistic problems is   properly constituted science of linguistics   The concept of value is of fundamental
       irritating some people, who see it as an   must disengage its own object from this   importance in structuralist analysis.
       excessive fashion . . . however . . . we   phenomenological confusion. He   It is this principle which denies the
       have to discover language, just as we are   therefore conceived of a general   validity of conceiving the elements of a
       in process of discovering space : our   linguistics which, prior to the study of   system as substantial individuals : 'For
       century will perhaps be marked by these   any particular language in itself, would   instance, we speak of the identity of two
       two explorations.''                 provide concepts by whose means the   8 :25p.m. Geneva-to-Paris trains that
         With Elements of Semiology Barthes   proper object of linguistic study might   leave at twenty-four hour intervals. We
       had recommended that descriptive    be isolated. This object Saussure called   feel that it is the same train each day, yet
       models from structural linguistics be   la langue. Langue (`la partie social du   everything—the locomotive, coaches,
       tentatively generalized to signifying    langage') is a purely institutional object:    personnel—is probably different. Or if a
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